Technology previews, reviews and tricks from a Nigerian Standpoint

Asha 311

With the release of Nokia Asha 311, Nokia hopes to stay afloat in the market. Asha 311 has a 3-inch low-res capacitive display and a 1GHz processor, both working together to bring the best out of the patched up interface of the series 40. Still as affordable as this phone is, competing with low end Android phones seems a tall task. Anyways, lets see how this phone performs before i make any conclusion.

Design

There’s nothing really great about the design of the Asha 311. The features which the phone easy to recognized are the two physical buttons placed just below the screen. I wouldn’t say it adds much to the beauty of the phone, but the two physical buttons are very responsive and easy to press.

The side keys are nothing like the front buttons. They are too ridig, too nard to press making it uncomfortable. Nokia still featured the traditional pinhole charging port which is located on the top of the phone. There’s also a microUSB port and a 3.5mm headphone jack just beside the pinhole charging port.

Finally, the phone feature an ambient light and proximity sensor which becomes active during calls to dim the screen.

Screen

The Asha 311 is one of the best in its family. It has a capacitive 3-inch LCD display screen with a resolution of 240 x 400 pixels. The good news here is that the Asha 311 comes with a Corning Gorilla Glass which protects it from scratches or scrapes. It also support multitouch. Nokia added a polarizing filter for betteer outdoor visibility (outdoor visibility performance is average).

Interface

The Nokia Asha 311 comes with the Series 40 interface. There is an imitation of the Android OS dropdown menu, three swipeable home screens and an imitation of the IOS notification icon. Nokia made a little improvement on the user interface by adding a bouncy effect for icons whenever you scroll to the top of a list.

Processor and Memory

I would say Nokia made an effort moving a step forward with the Asha 311. Compared to the other Asha series, the Nokia Asha 311 is fast. All thanks to the more responsive capacitive touchscreen, but also to the RAM memory (128MB) and a 1GHz processor. The phone comes with a 2GB microSD card, internal storage of 140MB and can take up to 32GB microSD card.

Internet and Connectivity

The Asha 311 has a 3.2 megapixel camera with no flash. It a fixed-focus camera with very low quality shots. The good thing is that the camera is very easy to operate. It also captures video in 480p recorded in .3gp format. The frame rate is 25Fps and it’s not that good for recording fast-moving objects (Great…how on earth can i record Usain Bolt’s race!).

Multimedia

The Nokia Asha 311 has a very well equiped media play with tons of codec support and a clear loudspeaker. Nokia is giving away 60 java games from EA for free as a gift for Asha buyers (don’t you expect high-end games since all you get are the basic games. After all, it’s running on a Series 40 platform). The Good news it that Angry Birds comes pre-installed (hurray!)

Battery

Finally, the Asha 311 can also boast of something; longer battery life. It’s packed with a 1100mAh Li-ion battery that yield 6hours of 3G talk time, 14hours of 2G talk time and up to 40hours on music play time.

Conclusion

I’ve had a look at the Asha 311 from all angles but I’ve been kinda silent on the most important part which is the price. In Nigeria, the device costs between ₦18,840 to ₦23,550 ($120 to $140) depending on the market. This pits it in the same category as low-end Android smartphones like the Galaxy Y, Galaxy Pocket and LG Optimus L3 (cost either the same or lower than the Asha 311, but bring you into the smartphone land with lots and lots of useful apps unlike the java apps you get on the Asha 311).If you are a Game freak, you have to consider the options but the Nokia Asha311 is a very good phone (for my mum, dad and little bro since they’re not that borthered about classy apps or games). On its own the Asha 311 stands proud.